I was shooting a landscape at dawn the other day and i noticed it is imposible to get both the foreground and the sky in one exposure without using an ND filter. Since i don`t have that type of filter, i decided to take 2 exposures: one for the sky, the other for the foreground.

My problem is that i can`t blend them in PS in a way it looks natural. I tried the HDR feature on CS5 but all i get are those nasty HDR like colors.

Can anyone tell me or, point me into a direction in how to achieve this task?

Photomatix is the way to go for HDR's. Follow the tutorial on stuckincustoms.com. Most feel that his photos are overdone, but to avoid this don't put the strength and luminiosity to max like he usually does.

You have a lot to play with, but you also have a lot of movement in the water. I would suggest just using the first 2 images on 2 layers and a layer mask and gently brush away the areas that work best for you with a large brush and a low opacity and building up the image as you go along.

I think that would work better than a HDR software with these photos.

_________________"I'm playing all the right notes but not necessarily in the right order" - Eric Morecambe________________________________________D7000 and too many lenses.

Since this particular image doesn't have a clean linear transition (like a horizon running across the entire image), an ND filter wouldn't have done much good. (Also probably why you weren't satisfied with the results of the (linear) gradient.)

The easiest way I know to create a mask for an image like this is to turn the image to grayscale, play with the brightness/contrast (and maybe the shadows/highlights), and then use that as a mask. Or at least a starting point for a mask.

Then reopen the image in color, add your mask, and tweak until you're happy with the results.

HTH - Mark

{edit}Argh, tired of trying to get SkyDrive to work here. Let's try DropBox instead...

As you can see, I converted the middle image to grayscale and played with b/c and s/h as noted above. Then I opened a new color psd and copy/pasted the dark and bright images onto their own layers, and the edited grayscale middle image into channel Alpha 1.

Then, to soften the edges a little, I loaded Alpha 1 as a selection, inverted the selection, contracted it by 2 pixels, feathered it by 4 pixels, and filled the selection with white in Alpha 2.

Finally, I added a mask to the top (bright) layer, and c/p Alpha 2 into the Layer 2 Mask channel.

The waves near the shore need work, and there are still some bright halos (particularly around the branches) but it's not bad for 5 minutes of work. And you can continue to touch it up as time allows.
{/edit}

This is what I came up with in photomatix. It's a rough go, as I only took about a minute flicking through the sliders. Probably needs another 10~15 with photoshop to clean it up a bit. If you like it, I can give you more details.